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tv   BBC World News  WHUT  July 27, 2012 7:00am-7:30am EDT

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>> this is bbc world news. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. shell. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations.
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two records in the games in the men's archery ranking round. let the bells ring out! a mass bell ringing takes place across the u.k. to celebrate the start of the games. the olympic torch gets a royal escort as it makes its way down the river thames on the queen's royal barge. unemployment in spain hits its highest level since current records began in 1976. >> so, seven years of preparations, seven years of anticipation, and finally the day has dawned. it is all systems go, as we count down the hours to the formal opening of london 2012. the city is preparing for
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what's been dubbed the biggest show oneth, certainly the biggest sporting show on earth. we expect about four billion people are going to be watching the opening ceremony from this wonderful new olympic stadium. and with excitement rising, right around the east of london where the olympic park, is but across this nation and across the world as well, we also follow the progress of the olympic flame. it's been on a journey that has included some of london's best-known landmarks, the celebrations today began with a real right ding dong, as thousands of people right across this country rang out the bells to celebrate the start of london 2012. andy moore was there, and he has this report. >> at precisely 12 minutes past 8:00, the bells of big ben rang
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out to herald the start of a very unusual piece of performance art. officially entitled work number 1197, the aim was to get as many bells in one country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes. the olympic flame began the day in the maze of hampton court. . , there was a guide to make sure the torch got to the center and out again. the flame was carried down to the queen's rowing barge. the flame was carried in stately procession down the river thames. the barge was powered by rowers young and old, including two men in their 90's who took part in the 1948 game. david cameron said the olympics were the perfect opportunity for the world to see the best of britain. >> it's very exciting. i think there is a huge sense of excitement and anticipation because britain is ready to
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welcome the greatest show on earth, and it's going to be an incredible few weeks for our country. >> the great and the good has been arriving in london. america's first lady, michelle obama, is leaving the u.s. presidential delegation. she spoke to athletes from team u.s.a. in east london. >> i can't begin to tell you how amazing it is for me to be leading the delegation to the opening ceremonies of the 2012 olympic games. some of my fondest memories growing up -- and even as an adult, for that matter -- involve watching the olympics on tv. >> the first lady of the united states, michelle obama, there, ending that report from andy moore. i just want to give you a sense of the excitement that we feel around us here in the olympic park. we can switch to one of our cameras overlooking the park, which gives you just a sense of what a few of the athletes who are already here are doing right now. you can see some of them, i think, walking around the
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training track, the practice area which has been reserved for the athletes. we've been watching them over the last few hours. i've seen high jumps being practiced. i've seen some sprints being done around the 400-meter track. you can still see some of them out there. of course, athletes who have arrived, many of them are going to be at the opening ceremony. we expect 10,000 participants in that ceremony this evening. but many of them, of course, highly focused on the athletics, and that's what they have been practicing this morning. now we want to take you to something else that's happening just a little bit further away in london. of course, the torch relay continues, bringing the olympic flame here to the olympic stadium later on. right now, the flame is going down the river thames on the queen's row barge, gloriana. it's just been around the tower bridge area. we can see the latest pictures there. it's going to be taken from gloriana and kept in seclusion, we're told, for a few hours
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before it makes its final journey up north into this area of east london, where it will be brought, of course, to the olympic stadium and where later on we're going to see the caldron lit, as one of the most important, symbolic moments of this opening ceremony. we don't know who's going to do that final lighting yet. that's one of the big secrets that has yet to be revealed. now, the bbc's phillipa thomas is actually stationed outside buckingham palace right now, because phillipa is expecting leaders to be gathering a little bit later on this afternoon here in london for a reception hosted by queen elizabeth. phillipa, if you can hear me now, just tell me whether the ceremonial has begun outside buckingham palace and how many big any tarries and leaders are expected a little bit later on this afternoon. >> this afternoon, we're expecting 95 heads of state or
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heads of delegations to arrive at buckingham palace together with their partners, official partners, or spouses here. that will include the president of germany, france, turkey, the prime minister of turkey here. we hear from the russians that mr. medvedev will be here leading the russian delegation. really, we're going to have a stream of official limousines arriving at buckingham palace for a cocktail reception that will be hosted by the queen and the duke of edinburgh and we understand the duke and duchess of cornwall, charles and camilla, and also william and kate, and prince harry, the three younger royals, of course, are official ambassadors for team g.b., and they'll be attending a lot of the game's events. you can imagine there's an awful lot of diplomatic dancing
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to be done around, as you have some very interesting combinations of leaders. we'll be interested to see whether the south koreans and the north koreans are both represented here. i think the north korean sports minister might be arriving. and another interesting fact will be what happens after this opening reception when we've heard a short speech from the queen. the leaders, of course, want to get the opening ceremony. they need to cross from here in central london to the east, to stratford, to the opening ceremony. normally they would go in fleets of limousines, wouldn't they, and kind of have their entourage. not this time, we understand, so they'll have to go in official coach, as something of a very official bus trip for all the world's leaders who are here and hoping to see the opening ceremony in person. >> phillipa, thank you very much indeed for that. one can only hope that those buses do not break down in the now-famous olympic lanes that we see on london's main highways. all of them leading here to
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stratford and the olympic stadium. now, we are so aware that this is an historic day for the city, and it is so exciting for everybody involved in the olympic movement. it's also, of course, a day when people around the world are making plans to tune in. we are expecting an audience of billions across the world to see the pictures from the opening ceremony later on. we would love to hear from you as the hours count down to that opening. why not send us an email, telling us how you plan to follow the olympics over the next couple of weeks, wherever you are? you can also send us photos of how you plan to show your support maybe for your own countrymen and women. whatever your story is, you can email us, you can send us those photos to mygames @bbc.co.uk. we want to hear from you. now, news from elsewhere. unemployment in spain has reached its highest level since current records began in 1976.
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official figures released today show that in the second quarter of this year, the number of unemployment people went up -- well, it rose to 24.6%. it's just under 5.7 million spaniards. spain's jobless rate is the highest of all 17 countries inside the eurozone. joining me to analyze these latest figures is the bbc's tom burridge in madrid. i just wonder whether the latest rise in the unemployment figures came as a shock, both to the spanish people and the spanish government. >> well, the spanish government is trying to put as positive a spin on it as possible by saying that the rate of increase has decreased slightly. again, the unemployment figures are not what they would have wanted to have seen. also, interestingly, this time of year, the three months that these statistics refer to, the second quarter of the year, from april to june, normally we
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do see a bit of a bounce in the job figures here in spain because the tourism industry is so important, and a lot of companies within that industry start employing people ahead of a busy summer. >> tom, we know austerity measures are continuing in spain. in fact, the government under enormous pressure from brussels. do you think the scale of the unemployment problem is now going to force the government to have a rethink about some of its austerity measures? >> well, the unemployment problem feeds into the general economic malaise in this country, and, of course, that sort of issue that we've seen earlier in the week, of foreign rates on spanish debt, the lack of confidence that the spanish economy can start to grow again, and also the lack of confidence that exists about whether the spanish government can balance its books and meet those targets that are coming from brussels. if people are out of work, they're not paying income tax. the government is paying more
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out in unemployment benefits. so therefore, it makes it harder for the economy to grow again. so all of the problems are interlinked. it is a big issue here in spain, and we've been down to the job center this morning here in madrid. you know, familiar stories. public sector workers are trying to get jobs. teachers we spoke to, and who couldn't find jobs, because there are public sector cuts, and, of course, the private sector. a lot of companies are suffering. spain in its second recession in just four years. >> thank you, thank you very much indeed. we're going to bring you news from the rest of the world. a pro-government newspaper in syria has warned that the "mother of all battles is about to start in the second city of aleppo." government forces are preparing a counterattack against rebels in the city. the u.n. human rights
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commissioner said she was deeply alarmed at the likelihood of an imminent confrontation and particularly concerned about the threat to civilians. the greek prime minister, antonis samaras, is meeting with the country's main lenders who persuaded them to release the next installment of bailout money. inspectors of the european union and the european central bank are in greece to examine the country's finances and the future of its bailout program. the death toll from beijing's heaviest rain storm in 60 years is more than doubled to 77. the storm on saturday sent torrents of water into underpasses. a number of drivers were drowned after being caught in the flooded streets. many residents took to china's popular microblogging sites to criticize the poorly managed drainage system inside the capital city. the british prime minister, david cameron, has pledged that
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london is ready for what he calls the greatest show on earth. while oscar-winning director danny boyle, who is a mastermind behind the opening ceremony, and we'll see him in a few hours' time, while he prefers the final jots and everything else he needs to do for the curtain raise in the stadium. there will be many people trying to, in a sense, make a comparison between where london 2012 stands in its opening ceremony alongside others we've seen in the recent and the more distant past. that brings me to my desk, janie hampton, an olympic historian, author of "london olympics 1908 and 1948," so let's not forget, london has held the olympics twice before. just tell me how very different this olympics is going to be from the others that london has seen. it is fundamentally transformed, isn't it, the whole olympic idea.
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>> it's a completely different thing. in 1948, london was still recovering from the second world war. the government had no money at all, and they sent the organizers, a group of well bred chaps with military titles, if you can do it, you do, it but don't expect us to help. and they did it. they just went round london saying, well, what can we use that's already there, wembley stadium, windsor great park for the road race, turnhill, whatever was there, they used. >> janie, we are just showing some pictures right now of the torch relay, of course, on the river thames, passing by tower bridge on the royal row barge, gloriana. there has been so much preparation put into london 2012, so many tens of thousands of people involved in what is such a special event, it is fundamentally different from
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what i understand in 1948 where, frankly, many people, even in britain, weren't really aware of the olympic games taking place. is that true? >> well, there was only a very small amount of television in those days, so, of course, bbc home service went across the whole country, and there was bbc broadcast all over europe. but it is true that not as many people knew about it. for the opening ceremony, they actually had to give away tickets the day before to nurses and schoolchildren to fill wembley stadium to its 80,000 capacity. but once it began, everybody was absolutely thrilled. it was the first time since the second world war ended 59 nations came together in peace just to have fun and enjoy themselves. and they weren't quite so competitive about how many medals can we get. >> well, they were genuine amateurs, weren't they? i do want you to bring in that
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prop. i can't resist it. it looks fascinating. am i right in thinking it's a torch from way back, or what exactly is it? tell me about it. >> well, this is a genuine replica of the 1948 torch. it's the same shape, though the top's made from a baked bean can and the bottom is a brook stidge, and a corn flake packet with a health and safety flame, which my grandson helped me make. the difference between now and then with the torch relay is they really did run from olympia all the way to wembley with a torch without stopping, day and night. there was no jumping in. it was followed by a rolls royce specially geared to not go more than 12 miles an hour with a spare light in the boot in case it went out. >> janie, i want to reflected on one final point with you. in 1948, which you know so much about, the london olympics of 1948, was very much an austerity games. we are facing tough times in the u.k., indeed, across the
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european economies right now. do you think there is a resonance there, austerity, of course, is a word that we use a lot in our current era as well. >> i think they knew what austerity was then. one of the hurdlers said to me, i've often been asked if we took drugs. we took drugs, we ate tablets. now, that's drugs for austerity, isn't it? the best that they wore, the rowers, this is an original rowers' vest. they were shocked, because they had no sleeves. they were used to sleeves and a high neck. you couldn't get that on to a modern rower. they were quite skinny because there was still food rationing, and they only had one egg an week and 2,500 calories a day. >> yes, i don't think they'd be ok with that in the current training regime where there are unbelievable amounts. janie, it's wonderful to see those reminders of perhaps a
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different age of olympian efforts. it's been a pleasure to talk to you. thanks very much for joining us on london live, and this is indeed a reminder that you must stay with us, and we'll bring you all of the olympic coverage here on london live from "bbc world news." china hosted the last olympic games, and the bird nest stadium in beijing is holding a big show of it'll own right now. a friendly match between the two top football teams in the english premier league, league champions manchester city, who are taking on the north london side, arsenal. martin patience has been finding out what people in the chinese capital expect from the london games, where team china, of course, has high hopes of topping the medal table. >> four years ago, the bird's nest stadium was the centerpiece of the beijing olympics. but as london is gearing up for
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its opening ceremony, this stadium behind me will be playing host to a football match. manchester city will be taking on the london team, arsenal. but people here, are they excited about the olympics in london, and will they be staying up to 3:00 in the morning local time in order to watch the opening ceremony? >> ever since they announced lone bob would be the host city of the olympics, i've been looking forward to it. i'll definitely take up to watch the opening ceremony in the middle of the night. >> china did a good job during the last olympics. i hope they do better as the london games. i also hope the u.k. team does well. >> the london olympics will be great. i'm looking forward to seeing the opening ceremony. i hope it's very different from the one in beijing. >> this just gives you some
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idea of the excitement and the enthusiasm for the olympic games here. now, team china is targeting 37 gold medals. if it wins all of them, it's more than likely to top the medal-winning table. next up, london. >> this is bbc news live from london. indeed, live from the olympic park. the headlines today -- the first two world records of the london 2012 games are made by south korea in the men's archery ranking round. and the bells that ring out at the start of london 2012 as part of a day of celebration to mark the beginning of the london games. so, i just told you, the first world records have been broken,
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and the official opening ceremony hasn't even happened. so, we get all the latest olympic headlines and news. >> thank you very much, steve. yes, that is our top story. south korea has claimed the first two world records of london 2012 in that men's archery ranking round. a person who's legally blind, he broke his own individual world record for 72 arrows and joins kim to set a new team mark as well for 216 arrows. now, there are no medals to be won yet. this is the preliminary round to determine the rankings for the main draw, but world records set all the same. the first event of the day has started, but there have been a few issues already. cricket ground is where they are having those preliminary rounds of the archery, and they determine the seedings for the main, individual, and team events. but the unticketed name that went along with this venue means that people have arrived to watch, including the family
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of a dutch archer, various spectators trying to get in, and not being able to. this is what one of them said to the bbc's joe wilson. >> yeah, we're here to view the dutch archer and the first archer in eight years to visit the olympics, and he's very young, 21 years old, so it's his first olympic games, and we're family. i would really like to see him participate. but we're not allowed access because we were told it was a free event, but there's no -- we're not allowed in. >> just to be clear, you were saying you were told it was a free event where. did you get that information from? >> from a.d.p. >> so a.t.p. is a website in the netherlands? >> yeah, where you can order your tickets to view the rest of the matches, but we were told there were no tickets for this match because it's a free event. >> sorry, confusing confusion there. thursday saw the start of the olympic football competition
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with one of the favorites for gold, spain, in action. but their under 23 men's team was beaten in the opening match by japan at hampden park. the only goal came in the 34th minute. a simple tap-in won it, and it was a miserable opening game all around for the tournament favorite. martinez sent off a few minutes after that goal, so a very unexpected result and the japanese have enjoyed celebrating, beating the nation that are atop the football rankings. great britain captain ryan has condemned the tackling that his team was subjected to by senegal after their 1-1 draw. three senior players will now be in a race to get fit for the next game fence the united arab emirates on sunday. the host nation took the lead after 19 minutes. in the second half, team g.b. was denied a clear-cut penalty after bellamy was on the edge of the box.
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senegal took advantage of that good fortune to snap the equalizer in the 82nd minute. 1-1, the final score. in group c, brazil suffered a scare after competing twice in the second half to reduce their lead to a single goal against egypt. the first goal was early on, and another was added in the 26th minute. four minutes later, brazil got the comfortable 3-0 halftime lead, but egypt pulled one back through arbitrator. the second goal brought the egyptians closer, but it was too late, as one of the tournament favorites held on for a 3-2 victory. plenty of sport happening already, even though the opening ceremony is still to come. >> thank you very much indeed. of course, there are going to be sob many fantastic sports headlines over the next two weeks or so, but i suppose today is the real focus is on the ceremony, on all of the ceremonial that leads us to that moment later on here at olympic stadium.
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we can cut again to the live pictures of the torch relay. there we have gloriana, the royal row barge, strategically place the right under the ring on the river thames. it is going to dock in just a few moments. it is going to take the flame to a secluded location. there is the flame, wonderful. we can see it very clarely there t. is going to be a taken away for a few hours, only to ok. that's the ok stadium behind me that's the ok stadium behind me do.
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